Keanin Loomis is projected to be Hamilton's next mayor. CTV News reported he had about 41 per cent of the vote with more than 88 per cent of polls in. Coun. Rob Cooper had about 32 per cent and Mayor Andrea Horwath had about 14 per cent.
For anyone who owns or wants to buy income property, the bigger story is what his council now runs. That is a $572 million deal from Ottawa and Queen's Park, announced on Canada.ca. It pays Hamilton to drop development charges on all new homes from March 30, 2026 to March 31, 2029. Development charges are the fee the city adds to every new home.
It lands in a slow market. Our Hamilton market report for September 2026 shows 333 home sales, down 27% from a year earlier. It also shows an average freehold price of $658,653, down 10%. On our Hamilton duplex, triplex and fourplex report, the median asking price is $799,900 for a triplex and $999,900 for a fourplex. That works out to $249,975 per unit for the fourplex.
What actually changed on election night
The mayor changed. The deal did not, at least not yet.
The province says the fee holiday takes effect once Hamilton City Council approves it, and it must then stay in place for three years. HamiltonIQ reported that in early October a city committee backed scrapping these fees for three years to unlock the $572 million. A committee vote is a step. It is not the final word.
I have not seen reporting that confirms a final council vote. I have not seen Loomis's housing plan in the coverage I read, either. So I won't guess at what he will push. If you read that he will "kill" or "save" the deal, ask where that came from.
The takeaway: plan around the deal the city has on the table, and watch the first meetings of the new council for the final vote.
Why a fee holiday matters to a Hamilton landlord
The province estimates that dropping these fees cuts the cost of building a new home by up to $100,442 per home. That is real money on a new building.
It matters most on bigger projects. Ontario already waived these fees on many second and third units added to an existing house. So if your plan is one basement suite, check your exact project with the city before you count on any savings.
Here is my view, and some people will disagree. The owners who gain the most over the next three years will be the ones who add units or build. The ones who sit and wait for prices to drop further will gain the least. With sales down 27% from a year ago, there is room to buy carefully. A fee holiday on top of that is a window with an end date, March 31, 2029. A small project can take a year just to plan and get a permit.
New rentals also mean more choice for tenants. An older triplex with tired units will feel that first. A clean, well-run building in a good spot will feel it least.
The zoning change most people scrolled past
In the same stretch of meetings, HamiltonIQ reported the Planning Committee backed mid-rise zoning for about 755 more Hamilton properties. Zoning is the city rule for what you can build. The committee also backed extra units in semis and townhouses.
That second part is the one I'd read twice if you own a semi in the lower city or a townhouse on the Mountain. A home that holds one family today could hold more units later, if council passes it and the numbers work. Your neighbour might not know that yet.
When someone sends me an address they want to add units to, I pull the zoning for that exact address before I look at a single rent number. A street can look the same as the one beside it and sit under different rules.
If you are comparing what a small building costs today, our page on Hamilton investment properties lays out the areas and building types we look at most.
The one thing to do before November 15
The current council's term runs to November 14, 2026. After that, the new council makes the calls.
So this month, do one thing. Look up the zoning for your home or the one you want to buy, and write down how many units the rules allow today. It takes about ten minutes on the City of Hamilton website, and it tells you whether this whole story is about you or about someone else.
If the answer is "more than you have now," you are ahead of most people. Buying a duplex is one path. Adding a unit to what you already own may be the cheaper one.
Questions people ask
Is Keanin Loomis new to Hamilton politics?
No. He ran for mayor in 2022 and lost to Andrea Horwath by about 1.2 per cent. This time the gap was wide. He is the former head of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
Who was Andrea Horwath before she was mayor?
She led the Ontario NDP and was a Hamilton city councillor before that. She won the mayor's job in 2022. CTV News reported she finished third this time, with about 14 per cent of the vote.
Does the fee holiday cover every kind of new home in Hamilton?
The province says it covers all residential development in the city for the three years. That includes houses, townhouses and apartment buildings. Non-residential building, like shops and offices, is not part of this deal.
Talk it through with us
If you looked up your zoning and want to know what it means for your plans, send us a note and pick a time to talk. Bring the address. We'll go through it together.
Written by Sandy MacKay, who leads Found Spaces Realty Group in Burlington, Hamilton and Niagara.